Monmouth, IL – Monmouth College used a big second half to end a three-game losing streak while handing the Prairie Fire its third straight defeat 86-61 on Sunday in Midwest Conference play.

The Fighting Scots (2-5, 2-3 MWC) lost consecutive games at Beloit College (78-64) and at home against Grinnell College (107-98) and Carroll University (71-63) after beating Illinois College 65-63 at home in the first league contest of the season.

The Prairie Fire (1-7, 1-5 MWC) dropped back-to-back games at home against Beloit College (74-59) and at Augustana College 84-59 entering Sunday's game against Monmouth.  Knox has lost its last two against the Fighting Scots.

Monmouth scored the first eight points of the game and led from start to finish.  The Prairie Fire finally got on the board and snapped the Fighting Scots run on a basket by junior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) 16:24 before the intermission.  The Scots took their first double-figure lead of the game at 14-4 at the 13:13 mark.

Sophomore Armand Stricklin (Lee Summit, MO, Lee Summit West) drained a 3-pointer to pull Knox within seven at 14-7 on the next possession.  Monmouth reclaimed a 10 point lead at 19-9 with just under 12:00 to go in the half.  The Prairie Fire put together a 11-4 run to pull within three at 23-30 on a layup by senior Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) with 8:04 remaining.  After the Fighting Scots increased the advantage to six at 26-20 less than a minute later, sophomore Mitch Murphy (Bushnell, IL, Bushnell-Prairie City/Avon) netted a 3-pointer to again cut the Monmouth lead to three, 26-23, with 7:08 in the first half.

Monmouth answered back with a 9-1 run for a 35-24 advantage with 4:19 on the first half clock.  The Prairie Fire closed to within seven points at halftime, 41-34, thanks to a 10-6 scoring spurt.

The Fighting Scots outscored Knox 26-6 in the paint and held a 12-3 advantage on second chance points.

Monmouth made 18-of-36 (50%) shots in the first half while Knox was 13-of-30 (43%), including 4-of-13 (31%) from 3-point range.  Neither team did much damage from the foul line.  The Fighting Scots went 4-for-6 (67%) and the Prairie Fire connected on 4-for-7 (57%).

Wes Dukeman scored a bucket 30 seconds into the second half to put Monmouth up 43-34.  A steal by junior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy) and a layup by Shaw, then a jumper by Miller, cut the Fighting Scots’ lead to 43-38 with about 18:00 remaining in the game.

Unfortunately for the Prairie Fire, that’s as close as the team would get as Monmouth took control the rest of the game.

The Scots went on a 16-3 run over the next 4:11 for a 59-41 lead.  A 3-pointer by Knox’s Miller made it 59-44 before Monmouth used another offensive burst, a 12-4 run, and led by 23 at 71-48.  The Fighting Scots lead by as many as 27 points.

Monmouth matched its first half shooting by knocking down 50% (17-of-34) and 4-of-9 (44%) shots from 3-point range.  The Scots also went 7-for-8 (87.5%) from the foul line in the second half and 11-for-14 (79%) overall.  Monmouth had 17 assists on 35 made baskets.

The Prairie Fire struggled on offense in the second half, when Monmouth held a 45-27 scoring advantage.  Knox made 9-of-27 (33%) shot attempts in the last 20 minutes and 22-of-57 (39%) overall.  The Fire also was 7-of-25 (28%) from beyond the 3-point arc in the game and 10-for-15 (67%) from the free throw line.  The hosts outrebounded Knox 47-30 and forced 16 turnovers while committing 14.

Stricklin led three Prairie Fire players in double-figure scoring with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including a couple of treys.  Miller added 12 points and Shaw had 10 to go along with seven rebounds.  Murphy, Knox’s leading scorer, was held to eight points on 3-of-17 shooting and 1-of-12 from 3-point range.

Monmouth’s Dukeman scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds.  Mike DeDecker had a double-double with 20 points and 11 assists to go along with six rebounds and three steals.

The Prairie Fire hosts Benedictine College (IL) on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.  The Eagles (2-8) lost to #4 North Central College at home on Saturday.  Benedictine won last year’s match-up against Knox in Lisle, Illinois 69-63 in the season-opener for both schools.

The game will be streamed live on the Web at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/knox.portal# beginning at 6:50 p.m.

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